Jodie Fizzard and Ernie:
I meet Jodi and her husband this fall. They have a fantastic English Setter named Ernie. Ernie was pretty typical. High energy dog who was also very cute. He listened to his dad fairly well but not so much to his mom. Thankfully, they are fantastic owners who saw all the potential Ernie had but were unknowingly and with all the best of intentions actually feeding into the issues. I remember walking into the house and seeing Ernie going nuts bouncing around everywhere. He was just a dog that needed some ground rules set. By the end of the visit he was chilled out almost asleep at my feet. We finished the one on one and I walked away feeling good about it. They followed my advice, enrolled him into class, became regulars on the walks and while he is not without issue...he still tends to get excited on the walk at times, he is a pleasure to be around. Love when he and Jodi show up, I call to him and he just wants some loving :). Cannot wait to see Ernie in the future as an adult dog, he is going to be marvelous. Here is Jodi’s story.
Ernie's Success Story
We have an 11 month old English Setter named Ernie. He is a great dog but, had completely taken over our house. We walked him every day; however, the walks were more of a tug of war. He had an abundance of energy & was running & jumping anywhere he pleased. He was ruining our furniture & would jump in the lap of any guests in our home – not a pleasant experience for most visitors given that he is 60lbs. He is a very skittish dog. The hair on the back of his neck stands on end & he would bark non-stop at any noise he heard. Also, he would not sleep through the night. We contacted Ken in September of this year for a one-on-one visit. Within the first 10 minutes Ken had Ernie lying at his feet as he discussed the issues with us – it was AMAZING, we couldn’t believe the difference in behavior we were seeing. We quickly became aware that unknowingly we were the problem. Ernie demonstrated over & over that with the proper guidance he was able to follow commands & be a calm, relaxed & happy dog. We followed all of the advice that Ken provided, enrolled in Basic Obedience Training at Topsailstar Pet Centre, took Ernie to daycare at Topsailstar & joined the group walks on the weekends. The first few weeks of the group walks & training were a struggle. Ernie would bark constantly & was still pulling to the point that there was a bald spot on the back of his neck from his collar; however, we kept at it. I am happy to say with the encouragement & training techniques from Ken & Barry at Topsailstar we are now happy walkers on the group walks. Ernie is walking much better. He still pulls from time-to-time; however, the walks are now enjoyable. He still gets spooked by noises but, we are continuing to work on the issue & are seeing improvements. Ernie now sleeps through the night & is much calmer & relaxed with the rules & structure that we now know how to provide. This process helped balance our home. We have signed up for the Advanced Level Obedience at Topsailstar Pet Centre & look forward to further improving on the progress we have seen so far. I wish we would have started this process months ago!!
Reagan Downey and Maddie:
This next story comes from Reagan Downey and Maddie. Maddie is a rescue and as everybody knows, I am a total sucker for rescues. Maddie came from the SPCA on the Burin Peninsula. Reagan knew she was facing some issues with Maddie when she got her home. Maddie was pretty good with people but very very fearful of other dogs. It would have been very easy for Reagan to bring Maddie back. Reagan has a young family and many people would feel that because Maddie was aggressive, that could translate into aggression for her kids. HOWEVER, Reagan dug in, sought and accepted help and has turned Maddie around. It was not magic that did it just Reagan being patient and slowly counter conditioning and socializing Maddie PROPERLY. Maddie has gone from flipping out when other dogs are around to regularly walking with other members of the group. She gets sniffs in at the other dogs and accepts sniffs from some of them. She has become very good friends with many of the dogs on the walks and regularly sneaks her way up to walk with my pack...that is where you she her confidence soar. She walks in with mine, her head in the air, her tail held higher. She is still a work in progress but is soooo much better then this summer. Reagan has done an amazing job with her.
hi ken,
even though we only just passed the 4 month mark on getting maddie and meeting you, i feel like we are already the start of a success story - that improves each day! feel free to condense it down if you need to! most of this you already know, as we talk 'dog' regularly, but here it is in written word. growing up, we always had dogs. i think you would understand what i mean when i say that merely having/owning dogs isn't the same as 'working' with them - training, walking , etc etc. a few years after i graduated university and moved to NC, we rescued a male kitten at 17 weeks of age (i'm happy to say he turned 9 this summer and is going strong :)) anyway, while i loved my kitty, my heart was still feeling empty - not having a dog in my life. almost 4 years after being away from NS, we got a king cavalier charles spaniel puppy. one of my coworkers had 2 purebreds and decided to have puppies. hind-sight is always 20/20 - the male had traits that should not have passed on. however, in knowing this - i would never trade the time i had with 'kish' (aka kishie) for anything. we moved to NL 3 years later (in 2009) cat, dog, 3 month old and 2 1/2 year old in tow. i won't go through the details but may 29, 2012 i lost my beautiful girl to heart failure at only 6 years of age. the heart break and pain i felt/feel was immense, and i experienced a lot of anger, sadness & guilt. a very short time later i found myself looking at SPCA sites and beagle paws. i had a soft spot for beagles for a long time - knowing how poorly many people treat them. the only way to explain why i was looking so soon was because of the hurt i felt losing kish. not wanting to go the 'purebred route' any longer, i knew that because i lost a life, i now wanted to save one. getting a rescue meant - we were both "broke", but together we would heal. mid july are searching - i found my dog. i knew as soon as i see her pic. we applied and were approved and drove to burin SPCA to go get her...road trip!!! the info we knew about maddie (once 'nala') was that she wasn't socialized well with other dogs - her previous owner left her alone a lot, left her tied on outside - an entire weekend! somehow though, she was great with cats & kids & people. our cav was the most easy going, sweet dog - we never seeked training or anything, and i thought - with walking and meeting other dogs - maddie would come around. it only took a few days of having her to realize - that her aggression towards other dogs was beyond my abilities/knowledge. she went nuts over seeing another dog - lunging, barking, etc etc. she was out for blood! i was already a member of the For the Love of Dogs group before getting her, and i knew from reading posts that Ken was a dog trainer. there was a lot of positive comments about the work you did. i put my issue out there, and the one on one was immediately recommended. so one week after getting maddie - we met ken at our house. after he saw how maddie reacted to other dogs - it became clear her aggression was fear based. we developed a plan - to work with her behavior and work with separation anxiety issues. he encouraged us to join the group walk the following day...which we did. there is no other way to say it, but maddie was a complete arse that first day. she went nuts at the other dogs, lunging, barking, etc. ken arranged a meet with one of his dogs and she was literally scared s***less! however, it was a start. we walked at the back of the line almost the whole time. but by the end, maddie was walking "near" another dog and not reacting too much. we kept at it. now, maddie comfortably walks at the front of the line, most happy to be walking with ken's dogs, or a few other regulars. she had been to doggie daycare several times. the aggression is gone, there is still some fear as she learns how to interact with other dogs. she is still not comfortable with butt -sniff intros, but prefers to greet a dog face to face. she is learning how to dog signals - play, etc. i recently had another dog in my house, and there was zero reaction. we are improving more and more each week. i'm proud of maddie and thankful for ken getting us on the right track. there is so much bad information out there. as i type this, maddie is asleep on my lap. she has become such a wonderful new family member. doing a rescue is such a rewarding feeling. You can't change the world by helping a single dog, but you can change the world for that single dog !
Sarita Pellowe and Kupo and Denzel
Sarita is a newer addition to our group...fresh from the UK with two lovely Bostons, Denzel and Kupo. I always enjoy interacting with any new student and client but especially ones who come from elsewhere and have been involved with training elsewhere. It is always interesting to see how and what others are doing. Denzel was typical rude puppy and Kupo was skittish around new people. They needed some structure, guidance and proper socialization. Sarita was amazing with them and took it all as a real challenge. In the short time she has been around, they have made amazing progress. Denzel graduated from the Level One course, they are regulars on the walks and as I type this they are at day three in my house (I am dog sitting for a couple of days over Christmas while mom is in the UK in an effort to socialize them even more....6 dogs and not one incident...quite pleased). Here is their story.
Our story is definitely a work in progress, but the results we've seen so far have been unbelievable. When I take a step back and remember where both me and my dogs were a month, two months ago, it makes me one proud momma. I have two Boston Terriers - Kupo (2 yrs) and Denzel (7 months). Kupo is a pretty nervous dog, and Denzel is a little goof with no manners. Recently Denzel was in a fight at the dog park, he'd never been particularly aggressive before then with other dogs but we saw a marked change in his behaviour towards other dogs and I knew we needed help. We signed up for Level 1 Obedience at Topsailstar, where we met Ken. He told us about the For The Love Of Dogs group and the weekend walks, which we've been to every weekend now for 3 weeks. Denzel's behaviour was just downright rude - trying to attack every dog that comes near and barking CONSTANTLY on the walks (I don't think anyone missed us on our first walk hahaha), eating things he shouldn't in the house (I found him on the kitchen table with his head inside our carved pumpkin at Halloween), barking at windows, getting jiggy with his brother.. All things he got away with because "He's only a puppy". Ken soon put a stop to that with a one on one, and now with some real structure and discipline my little guys are thriving. Kupo is becoming much more accepting of other people and dogs and has really chilled out, as I write this the dogs next door are going crazy barking which would normally set these two off, the mailman has just been round and the phone has been ringing all morning.. And they're fast asleep at my feet. Denzel's improvement is just unreal. I first realised what he was actually capable of when Ken took him off me in class for a demo. Denzel has the attention span of a fruit bowl, and I've never been able to make him 'stay'.. How wrong was I! Ken took him out in front of class, told him to stay once, and cleared off out of the room. Denzel stayed there perfectly until Ken came back with lots of doggy kisses for him, and I very nearly burst into tears with pride. Since then, I've worked him like crazy and every day my heart swells with pride because of what my tearaway, vagabond puppy is capable of. He hasn't tried to attack a dog in over 2 weeks now - yes, I've been counting - his obedience is coming along brilliantly and he seems so happy to know that I'm his mom, I'll look after him and I'm in control. He still has a way to go yet, but with the endless support that Ken has provided us with I have no doubts about his abilities
For anyone considering going to the group walks but are a little nervous or think their dog is a jerk and won't behave - I think you owe it to yourself and your dog to give it a try. I was so nervous starting the walks, I remember my first day down at Quidi Vidi lake when I knew nobody, my dogs were going crazy and for the first half of the walk I just wanted to leave - I was mortified and totally shut down. I dropped to the back of the group and was about to leave when I met two of the moms - Janine and Krista - my boys fell in love with their dogs and I haven't looked back since. Kupo actually cried when Krista and her valley bulldogs left us in the car park after the walk! After just 3 weeks of hanging out with the group, my guys are an absolute pleasure to take out every weekend. The support that the group provides is second to none - every weekend someone has something encouraging to say (mostly about how quiet Denzel is today..) and it's those little things that make you realise that if you're putting the work in, you're getting results. Not only has meeting Ken and the group been great for my dogs, it's been great for me too - for the first time since I moved to NL earlier this year I feel settled and at home, have met some amazing people and look forward to the walks and class every week.
Danielle Collins and Jersey
I am so proud of Danielle. I met her and Jersey this past summer. To say Jersey was a handful was an understatement. She was cute but completely ruling the house. She had her mom and dad afraid of handling her at times and to be fair, those times were no fun for them. Because she was cute though, she was getting away with a lot of things she should not have and over time had taken over. I did a one on one and Danielle especially dug in. They followed up with group walks and class. Danielle has one of these personalities that is calm and insistent and as a result Jersey THRIVED. To see Danielle heeling Jersey around the room and to see her working Jersey is a beautiful thing. They have since brought another addition into the home in Miss Ellie May and I am already seeing the results with her...she is a great dog. Here is their story.
When I first got Jersey as a puppy, I thought I knew it all, I mean how hard could raising a dog be?? And at first, I thought I had the smartest little puppy! Within 2 weeks she was housetrained, could sit, stay, down, etc. but this was only the beginning!! Jersey is a very mischievous dog, if I lay something on the coffee table, she comes behind me and takes it off the coffee table (actually as I am writing this she is standing with my tv remote in her mouth). When she was a puppy she destroyed many many things (tv remotes, cell phones, shoes, Oakley sunglasses (she had expensive taste)). But when she was a puppy, it was easy to go up and haul whatever she had out of her mouth, followed by us yelling bad dog at her. Eventually it got to the point that she would take things and hide under the bed, coffee or end tables, which would lead to her getting dragged out, and once again yelled at. I should mention that this didn’t just happen once in a while, this was several times a day, pretty much anything she could find she would take. This past May (Jersey is a year and half), things escalated, she became very possessive over the items she took. If you approached her when she had something she would growl and snap! I was shocked; I mean how could my loving dog that smothers me in kisses every time I leave her for even 5 minutes want to bite me!!! This happened a couple of times, and I became afraid to go near her when she had something, I knew I needed help!! I heard about Ken Reid around the same time, and he seemed like the kind of help I needed! Ken came to my house the end of June, and I quickly learned all the things I was doing that encouraged this behavior, I free fed her, she wasn’t kennel trained (she actually beat the side out of the cage when I tried), and I was handling the situation completely wrong! I realized I had not even considered a dog’s natural instinct, and how their brains work (they aren’t humans). If I tell Jersey to sit and give her a treat she knows it was good, but then I was yelling at her for dropping something, which should be good but now to her it was bad. Because of all these inconsistencies in Jersey’s life, she ultimately became the leader of our “pack”, and thus my things became her things!
Jersey is far from perfect, but I would never call her a “bad dog”, and although she is still very mischievous, thanks to Ken’s awesome advice, obedience classes, and group dog walks on the weekends I can proudly say the I am the leader of our “pack”. Example just now when she had the remote, I called her, she dropped it and came over, I sat and stayed her, went and got the remote and put it away, and came back and praised her for staying Success!